William K. Kelley served as Deputy Counsel to United States President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
. He worked as a deputy to White House Counsel
Harriet Miers
Harriet Ellan Miers (born August 10, 1945) is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party since 1988, she previously served as White House Staff Secretary f ...
prior to her departure from the White House, and Counsel
Fred Fielding, who succeeded Miers.
Kelley is a professor at the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
Law School
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
who took a leave of absence to work at the White House. He returned to Notre Dame in the 2007–2008 academic year. He earned his B.A. from Marquette University in 1984 and his J.D. from Harvard in 1987. He is a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
. Admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1990, Professor Kelley clerked for
Kenneth W. Starr
Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer and judge who authored the Starr Report, which led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an investigation of members of the Clinton administration, known ...
on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...
Circuit in Washington, D.C. (1987–88), as well as for Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the William Mitchell ...
and Associate Justice
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
(1988–89).
Kelley worked with the Office of the Special Counsel when Kenneth Starr was investigating the Whitewater / Monica Lewinsky incidents, writing the brief for the case. During the
Florida election recount
The 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida was a period of election recount, vote recounting in Florida that occurred during the weeks after Election Day (United States), Election Day in the 2000 United States presiden ...
, Kelley was a member of the so-called Cabal, a group of former law clerks to conservative Supreme Court justices. The clerks argued the Supreme Court justices would want to grant
certiorari
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
to hear the controversy that would become, ''
Bush v. Gore
''Bush v. Gore'', 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, th ...
''.
United States Attorneys
Kelley was one of several Bush administration White House staff members that participated in approving the dismissal of eight
United States Attorneys
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
in 2006. Questions about the criteria for the dismissals led to Congressional hearings. On March 21, 2007, the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, approved issuing subpoenas to Kelley, along with four other senior White house officials, to testify about the dismissals.
[Associated Press.]
Text of motion approving subpoenas of White House officials
''Detroit News'' Thursday, March 22, 2007. Retrieved April 17, 2007.
See also
*
*
References
External links
Discussion on Constitutional separation of powers between Kelley and Harvard's Noah Feldman and Jack Goldsmithin the ''
Harvard Law Record
The ''Harvard Law Record'' is an independent student-edited newspaper based at Harvard Law School. Founded in 1946, it is the oldest law school newspaper in the United States.
Characteristics
The ''Record'', a print and online publication, includ ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, William K.
Living people
University of Notre Dame faculty
Notre Dame Law School faculty
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
Marquette University alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)